Links for Thought – November 20, 2010

The Future of Indian Technology (TechCrunch)–This is a great piece on the transformation of the Indian economy from one of providing global information technology services to one that is becoming a major innovator on the global level. In our recently released Your Cheat Sheet to Investing in India, and in depth research report on the country as an investment opportunity, we covered this theme as a core thesis. Here TechCrunch takes a look at some of the young companies coming out of India that are changing the world today.

Fundamentals Versus the QEII Distraction (A Dash of Insight)–Jeff Miller does a great job of providing a pragmatic analysis of QE2 and placing that in the context of what the market fundamentals are indicating today. There’s so much rhetoric surrounding QE2, even from the political arena today, that just really fails to comprehend the complexities of the Fed’s action and what it means for investors today. Speaking of which…

Rebalancing the Global Recovery (The Federal Reserve Bank)–Whether you read Fed Chairman Bernanke’s speech or not, there is much important information here to take hold of. I know I know, Bernanke says not to call it quantitative easing, but I just can’t help it. Beyond that, it’s great to see the Fed Chairman step up and tell it like it is. From the political arena in the US people have joined China in labeling QE2 currency manipulation, but Bernanke here steps up and talks about the REAL currency manipulator (China) and the implications of that manipulation in generating some painful global imbalances.

Pretty Good for Government Work (NY Times)–Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, steps up here to thank the government for a job well done in preventing a catastrophic meltdown of our financial system. While many elements of the bailout could have (and I would say should have…) been orchestrated better, these measures were absolutely necessary at the time. It’s easy in hindsight to say that “oh free market capitalism is self-correcting blah blah blah” but the fact of the matter is the problems were so deep and severe that had a run on our banks taken place (and it almost did) then our system would have essentially collapsed.

Stock Math 2010: Why Stocks Should Stay Well Bid (AB Analytical Services)–Here’s a look at some of the fundamental math behind S&P companies that goes a long way towards explaining why stocks should have a strong bid and some steady upside into the New Year. People can talk about the scary nightmare scenarios all they want, but the fact remains that the companies who compose our indices are in outstanding financial shape and its starting to show in stock prices.

What OpenTable Shorts Don’t Talk About (ValueHuntr)–Several prominent value investors have publicly declared their short positions in OpenTable (NASDAQ: OPEN). It’s almost amusing to see these guys talk about a small, innovative company now only worth $1.5 billion and how its market opportunity is saturated already. This helps explain why Steve Blank’s lecture at Columbia recently was titled “Why Accountants Don’t Run Startups.” I can assure you these OpenTable shorts didn’t read my interview with Steve Blank (you can find it here though).